THE mum of murdered Barry teenager, Conner Marshall has spoken of the impact on her family, following the two-week inquest ruling on Friday, January 17.
Nadine Marshall, 47, said she, husband Richard, 48, son Jack, 19, and daughter Georgia, 16, had felt a “range of emotions” during the five years since Conner’s death.
Conner Marshall, 18, was brutally murdered by David Braddon, who was on probation at the time, at Trecco Bay caravan park, in March 2015.
Coroner Nadim Bashir, sitting in Pontypridd Coroners’ Court, concluded that Conner had been unlawfully killed.
Conner later died in hospital as a result of his severe injuries.
Braddon was on probation for drugs offences and assaulting a police officer when the attack happened.
He also had previous domestic abuse convictions.
The coroner said a risk assessment on Braddon, from Caerphilly and now 31, should have been completed within 20 days of the case being allocated to Ms Kathryn Oakley but that did not happen.
He further said that it was “of sufficient quality,” once submitted
But he added there was "no possible or even plausible evidential link" between the probation failings and Conner's death.
“Put simply, his death could not have been foreseen or predicted let alone prevented on the evidence before me."
Ms Oakley, who managed Braddon’s case, had told the court she felt “overwhelmed” with work and had fallen behind with her caseload.
The Wales Probation Trust, at this time, split into the publicly-run National Probation Service and privately operated Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), which employed Ms Oakley.
Following the inquest, Mrs Marshall read out a statement outside court .
“Today is the culmination of almost five years of struggle to obtain the truth and justice for Conner and to find out why our much-loved son was the victim of a callous and unprovoked attack,” she said.
“The coroner’s findings today have vindicated what we have always known to be true - that the supervision of David Braddon was not robust and the management system of Wales CRC were wholly inadequate.
“This was a direct consequence of the chaos caused by the privatisation of probation services in this country.
“The coroner identified seven major failures. Had these failures not occurred, we will never know whether our son Conner would still be here today.”
Speaking to the Barry & District News, Mrs Marshall said: “I’m really pleased at what we’ve achieved because we were told we wouldn’t. and we wouldn’t get people to understand, and we wouldn’t get different questions answered – and we got them.
“I’m really proud.
“Personally, it’s made me really ill – just under the huge amount of pressure that brings with it financially.
“Emotionally it’s really difficult.
“It’s not just the immediate effects and the long-term – it’s everything else in between because as Conner used to say “life goes on” and the bills don’t stop and the kids growing up doesn’t stop.
“They are incredibly resilient because they’ve been supported and we do a lot of talking and hugs.
“We talk about Conner and it’s made them very determined to make the most of every single day and opportunity – they literally grab everything.
“They grab life.”
Mrs Marshall said she was “not giving up” her campaigning and was open to offers of related roles.
“I feel I need to do something that keeps victim awareness going,” she said.
“How I don’t know at the moment.”
She added: “I want to thank all those people who gave me donations, hugs, support.
“It really helped us get through it.
“If I could give it all back I would.”
Mrs Marshall can be contacted via A Voice For Conner on Facebook and Twitter.
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